“Even on the difficult days when you go home, you still feel great because you know you have made a difference to someone’s life”
For Hanna Bailie, her career progression in social care from a Band 2 Support Worker with the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, to a Band 6 Deputy Manager came naturally. After working in shops and offices, Hanna knew she had to find something that gave her more satisfaction and where she could move up a clear career path.
When she got her first social care job as a Support Worker in a supportive housing facility for people with dementia, something clicked, and she knew helping people was what she was meant to do. Hanna vividly remembers her early days in the role, saying, “I immediately enjoyed it. Helping people didn’t feel like work to me. There was never any dread about going in in the mornings, it was a privilege.”
The 34-year-old from Belfast, now living in Bangor, described her first role. “Every day was different, depending on their needs. It was my job to support them in whatever way possible – that could be giving them their medications or even making them meals.”
The transition into social care felt seamless for Hanna. “In my old jobs, I used to dread working different shifts, or weekends, but going into social care, it has never bothered me. It was perfect for me.”
She found immense satisfaction in the work, driven by a profound sense of purpose that had been missing in her previous roles. This sense of purpose was confirmed when she realised the impact she could have on people’s lives, particularly when working with individuals with dementia who required a lot of compassion and patience.
Another great thing about a career in social care is the ability to move across different service areas. As she continued in her career, Hanna moved to working in adult learning disabilities day services for adults with learning disabilities, where she took on a role with added responsibilities. Working with groups of different clients, it was her job to find meaningful ways for them to spend their days and grow their independence.
“I looked at overall care plans, including mental and physical health. Then paired this with the things they love, and we were able to find ways to incorporate them into learning new skills,” she explained.
Hanna’s career continued to progress, and she applied for her first managerial role as a Deputy Manager for the Belfast Trust’s services for people with mental health issues, where she has been for the last two years.
“I never set out with the intention of going into a managerial role; it just happened through my love for every social care job I did. I always go into a job wanting to do well for the people I am looking after.”
Speaking about her current role, Hanna said, “People come in and access a variety of support services, depending on their diagnosis and what could help them. If they want a group or service we don’t offer, I can then try to bring it into our service. We listen to the people we support and always take on board what they want.”
Groups that are accessible include educational and therapeutic groups to help develop life skills, cookery groups, and many others focusing on developing peer support. “They all link together in some way to promote recovery and encourage people to move back into their communities, away from day services.”
Hanna’s work now has a lot more emphasis on making sure the day-to-day social care services she is responsible for run smoothly. “There is a focus on organisational work where I have to look ahead to make sure everything is planned properly and will run with ease. I’m also here to support other social care workers with any issues or concerns they may have,” she explained.
One thing Hanna was wary about when she accepted this role was moving to an office base, as she was concerned she might not work directly supporting people anymore, but this hasn’t been the case. “I still get to work with them, just not as much.”
For Hanna, the most rewarding part of her job is helping people and building a rapport with the people that need services. “We work with people who are distressed and upset about things going on in their lives, so being able to give them even 20 minutes of our time to support them is so amazing. We can see the effect it can have. It’s incredible to help them feel positive about any outcome they achieve.”
Building strong relationships with the service users is key. “When you first start, they are wary of the new person who they don’t know, but over time and the more they see you, they do open up. It’s not something I take lightly when someone comes and asks for my time as it’s something which would have been hard for them to do.”
One situation which sticks with Hanna is when she was working in a day service for people with learning disabilities and saw the work of families and carers behind the scenes. “They are people who may be hidden in the background and don’t get credit for what they are doing. While we are helping people become independent through our work, they are the people at home still continuing that empowerment.”
The motivation to help the service users get to a stage where they don’t need to rely on the groups has not always been there. Hanna explained that previously when someone was referred to them, they were there for the long term. But changes over the years have helped show that keeping people in one place may make them feel institutionalised, which is not the aim.
“Nowadays they get assigned a key worker who will work with them over time, helping them to achieve their goals. It is important for them to know if they do leave our service, but go on to feel they need help again, they can always come back,” she explained.
The staff around Hanna are important to her too, especially those who are newer to social care.
“It’s amazing to have a team who are empathetic and supportive. You can relate to the younger staff. That was everyone at one stage, and so as a team, we want to help them.”
In terms of advice for up-and-coming social care workers, Hanna believes even no job out there will have the same satisfaction as social care does when you are helping people. “Go for it. It’s extremely rewarding. Even on the difficult days when you go home, you still feel great because you know you have made a difference to someone’s life.”
Feeling inspired? Working together to change people’s lives… Make a difference by embarking on your journey into social care. For more information on how you can start your journey check out our A career in social care page or read more social care stories here.
ENDS